Bernard Cohen produced what he calls a “catalog of risks” [found here] in which he tries to put the various risks life has to offer into order according to their “riskiness.” He uses the method of years of potential life lost which he terms “lost life expectancy.” The results of his work are eye-opening, revealing the narrow mindset medicine has developed. For example, a person who lives an alcoholic lifestyle on the average lops 4 thousand days (about 11 years) off of his life. If a counselor were successful only 5% of the time in seeing an alcoholic changed, he would save as many years of life as would the medical profession if the medical profession were able to save all burn victims, or all poisoning victims. If the counseling were an effective instrument in getting people out of poverty by means of getting them back to work, and was effective only 3% of the time, the counseling would save as many years of potential life as would be saved by eliminating all deaths by motor vehicle accidents if the relationship that poverty has with mortality is causal.
Excerpts from Physician and Pastor: Co-Laborers
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